Duties

Involve leadership in teaching and research, management of School of Education REF submission; and various duties within the Education Research Centre, doctoral supervision, leadership of the new international MA within the School of Education, and editor of the research on-line journal R.Ed.

Research Interests

• Role of Culture in Education and Development;
• International Policy Development in Education;
• Quality of Basic Education and reconstruction of education systems;
• Research Methodology, in particular narrative and biographical research approaches.

Teaching

David teaches a range of course from BA through to the doctoral programme. These include international & Comparative Education and research methods

Biography

David Stephens is Professor of Education in the Education Research Centre. For more than 35 years he has worked in the area of international education either in Northern universities (Sussex, London, Oslo) or in the global South (Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, South East Asia) on programmes to improve the quality of Basic Education and teacher education.

He has a particular interest in the role of children in the development process, working for a number of years as chair of the international charity Child-to-Child. He also has extensive experience as a consultant to the international donor community and for two years (1994-1996) worked as DfID education adviser in Ghana. From 1999-2004 he was Professor of international education in Oslo during which time he led two funded research projects looking at Schooling and Cultural Values in South Africa.

In 2012 he was attached to Rhodes University in the Western Cape South Africa where he carried out field work on teacher life histories. He currently leads on the Research Evaluation framework (REF) submission for Education. David also acts as an evaluator for a number of international research councils in the UK, Norway and Hong Kong. He has recently published a book on qualitative research methodology in international settings for Falmer Press., and is currently completing a companion volume titled International education and development: a narrative approach

Current and recent research projects

2010 - 2012

• Rhodes University - Visiting Research Fellow : researching teacher life histories
• International research on the role of narratives in education and development

2008-2009

Save the Children, Norway. Grant: £80,000 Evaluation of Quality Education Project (QEP) in 4 African countries

2002-2005

• Government of South Africa/Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs special fund for Africa. Grant: £85,000 HIV/AIDS and the Teaching Profession in South Africa. Collaboration with UCT & UWC

2001-2004

• Norwegian Research Council Grant: £180,000 Schooling and Cultural Values in Africa Collaboration with UCT & UWC

1998-2000

• DfID Grant: £10,000 Children and Health Education: an examination of the partnership between adults and children in different cultural contexts in relationship to comprehensive school health education. (In collaboration with Dr. P.Pridmore ULIE)

1997-2001

• DfID Co-director Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project (MUSTER) Grant:£350,000 Five country study of teacher education costs, curriculum and induction into the profession.

Consultancy

• Extensive experience working as a consultant to multi- and bilateral donors e.g. UNICEF, DfID, SIDA and the EU.
• Evaluation of Development Assistance Programmes e.g. Laos (2001, 2007), Afghanistan (2002)
• Quality of Basic Education e.g. UNESCO (2003), Vietnam (2002)
• International Teacher Education e.g. Trinidad (1999), Ghana (1997) DfID Adviser Ghana (1994-96)
• Research Methods e.g. Philippines (1999), Israel (1998)
• Health Education and Development e.g. Ghana (1997).

Selected Recent Publications

Books

• Stephens, D (2013) International Education and Development: A Narrative Approach Routledge: London
• Stephens, D (2012) with Goodson, I & Loveless, A New Directions in Narrative Research Sense: Rotterdam
• Stephens, D (Ed.) (2009) Higher Education and Capacity Building - 25 years of Higher Education Links Programme Symposium Books. Oxford
• Stephens, D (2009) Qualitative Research in International Settings. Routledge/Falmer. London
• Stephens, D (2006) Culture in Education and Development: Principles, Practice and Policy. Symposium Books. Oxford
• Stephens, D (1999) with Pridmore, P Children as Partners in Health: A Critical review of the Child-to-Child Approach. Zed Books London
• Stephens, D (1990) with Vulliamy, G. and Lewin, K. Doing Educational Research in Developing Countries: qualitative strategies, Falmer Press, Lewes.

Journal Articles (peer reviewed)

• Stephens, D (2012) with Traher, S 'just because I'm from Africa, they'll expect me to do narrative research' in New Directions in Narrative Research edited by Goodson, i; Loveless, A & Stephens, D. Sense; Rotterdam
• Stephens, D (2012) 'Cross-Cultural differences in interpreting and conducting research' in Coleman, M (Ed) Research Methods in Educational Leadership Sage: London
• Stephens, D (2012) 'A Critical Overview of education for Sustainable Development (ESD) with a particular focus upon the development of quality teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa' in Griffin, R Teacher Education in sub-Saharan Africa: Closer Perspectives Symposium Books: Oxford
• Stephens, D (2011) 'Narrative and biographical methods in education and social sciences research' review essay in International Journal of Educational Development Vol. 31 326-327
• Stephens, D & Harber, C (2010) From Shouters to Supporters: Quality Education Project – Final Evaluation Report. Save the Children, Norway: Oslo
• Stephens, D (2008) Comparitive and Cultural Perspectives on Educational Reform, KASBIT Business Journal
• Stephens, D (2007) with Kutnick,K et.al. ‘Improving Classroom teaching and learning in Commonwealth National Contexts: three key ideas’ Position paper Commonwealth Secretariat, London
• Stephens, D (2005) ‘Culture in Educational Research in Africa: From the Methodological to the Practical’ in The Methodological Challenges of Researching Education and Skills Development in Africa. Edited by Daniel Hammett & Ruth Wedgwood. Centre for African Studies, University of Edinburgh.

Conference Articles (peer reviewed)

• Stephens, D (2005) ‘Education and Learning for All in Sub-Saharan Africa: issues of quality and context? A Case Study from South Africa’. Paper at 8th UKFIET Conference on Education and Development: Learning and Livelihood 13-15 September University of Oxford
• Stephens, D (2005) with Edwards, G & Turnbull, S ‘Developing Leaders for Sustainable Development: An investigation into the impact and outcomes of a UK-based Masters programme’. Paper at 8th UKFIET Conference on Education and Development: Learning and Livelihood 13-15 September University of Oxford
• Stephens, D (2005) ‘Education and Learning for All in Sub-Saharan Africa: issues of quality and context? A Case study from South Africa’. Paper at Education for Rural People in Sub-Saharan Africa: Livelihoods Approaches seminar. University of East Anglia, School of Development Studies. March 17 2005.

Other publications (not peer reviewed)

• Stephens, D (2006) Pilot Evaluation of the educational impact of wearer adjusted spectacles (adspecs) within the Ghana National Functional Literacy Programme of the Non-Formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education and Sports. Evaluation for DfID/Adaptive Eyecare Limited, Oxford.

Recent Keynote Presentations:

Stephens, D (2013) Stories from the field: narrative research across two generations in Grahamstown, Western Cape, South Africa University of East Anglia January 15th 2013

Stephens, D (2011) Reconceptualising Narrative Research: Geographies of Selfhood at the School of Education, University of Bristol. December 15 2011

Stephens, D (2012) Narrative research in International Education at the Institute of Education, University of London August 8th 2012

Stephens, D (2009) What is quality and what do we mean by quality education? – a state of the art. Keynote at International Conference Cambodia Quality Education Conference for the Save the Children Alliance November 11-14 2009

Stephens, D (2008) Opening keynote lecture: International Conference on Status of Educational Reform in Developing Countries, Aga Khan University, Karachi. Pakistan April 8-10 2008